


iron

by sangi



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-06-14
Updated: 2009-06-14
Packaged: 2018-03-13 17:11:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3389678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sangi/pseuds/sangi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Her eyes are the color of seafoam, he muses, watching as she drinks her tea slowly.</p>
            </blockquote>





	iron

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted in 2009, posted again here for archival reasons.

 

Her eyes are the color of seafoam, he muses, watching as she drinks her tea slowly. The earthbender, belying her disposition, delicately lifts the cup up to her lips, and lets the tea slide into her mouth. 

 

Iroh smiles, a small smile, as he watches the look on her face change to contentment. He then chuckles as Toph lets out a small hmm of satisfaction.

 

"You like the tea?" asks Iroh, taking a sip for himself, letting the different tastes mix. 

 

The pink bow of her lips curls up mischievously into a smile. "Yes, but I prefer ginseng."

 

* * *

  


 

Long-digited, graceful fingers reach out quickly to push forward her rose tile to make a harmony with her white jade tile. The blind girl sits back and smirks as Iroh scans the board and eyes it contemplatively.

 

"Hmmm," he comments, his voice rusty from disuse in the preceding hours of game play. "That was a clever move, Lady Bei Fong. I believe that would let you win the game," he begins to smirk as Toph face falls, pushing forward his dragon tile to take her white lotus, "if I had not done that." 

 

He deftly picks up her white lotus tile and fingers it carefully. "You underestimated its power," he advises her. His words interrupt her mental scanning of the board, searching for where she went wrong in her strategy. 

 

Toph frowns, and snatches the tile away from him. "I hate the lotus tile," she mumbles as she turns it over in her palm.

 

"You remind me of my nephew," Iroh says reminiscently. "He, too, did not understand the significance of the white lotus tile."

 

She sends him a warning glance before clearing the board. "Another game?" she asks, with a crooked smile.

  

* * *

 

 

At dinner one evening, a letter for her arrives. With a murmured apology for interrupting the party's private dinner, a servant leaves it in her hands. The earthbender feels the seal beneath her fingertips and frowns before ripping it open. The letters are raised, and her hand flies over them quickly.

 

'Dearest daughter,'

 

\- it begins.

 

'We have not seen you in such a long time. We understand that you are busy with your job as ambassador to the Fire Nation, but we are sure that you can take some time out of your schedule to come and visit us here in the Earth Kingdom...'

 

The words and condescending tone continue; as she fingers move faster across the page her face gets redder and redder. This interference in her eating attracts the attention of her two dinner companions. Zuko looks at her, eating utensils still in hand, wary. Iroh takes a sip of his tea, carefully monitoring her. 

 

After Toph puts the letter down, she takes a moment to calm herself down before speaking. "My parents would like me to visit them in the Earth Kingdom," she states calmly. "They are spending the winter season in the capital."

 

Zuko takes this in, and then continues to eat in silence. Iroh openly smiles. "Well, I could never let a respectable young lady like you to travel by herself. I will have to chaperone you."

 

* * *

 

The light of the lanterns shines through the glass of her champagne glass and creates a rainbow on the table. Her mother comments awkwardly on it, while Toph grunts in reply. She cannot, after all, appreciate the beauty of it. Iroh breaks the awkward silence by starting a conversation about tea.

 

'That is Iroh,' Toph thinks. 

 

"Oh, we are so glad that you came with our daughter to visit us, General Iroh," her mother simpers.

 

Iroh laughs, a deep laugh that makes his belly jiggle slightly. "No need for formalities. You may just call me Iroh. Besides, I am no longer a general."

 

"Oh," her mother starts, "Of course!"

 

'It is funny,' Toph thinks. 'How quickly they change sides.'

 

* * *

 

“We should go soon,” she says, one morning over a cup of tea. “We’ve stayed too long already.” And with a crooked smile, “Sparky is probably languishing without us.”

 

Iroh watches as she takes a sip of her tea, notes how her hand slightly trembles as she raises the cup.

 

“Are you sure you don’t want to wait another week?” He asks, concerned, watching as she flinches slightly when he goes on. “The Avatar and his wife, and her brother, will be visiting the capital in a few days.”

 

The taste of the tea is slightly acrid on her tongue. “Yes,” she says quietly. “I know.”

* * *

 

 

Her toes dig into the earth, feeling it shift. She can feel an animal moving in the bushes, and can definitely feel the strong source of Iroh approaching in the distance.

 

But as soon as air starts to brush her hair away from her face, letting it trail in the wind, she knows they are close. Her well-trained nose can pick up on the smell of a large animal, Appa, and her ears can pick out giggling and joy. The earthbender’s fingers clench into a fist and she struggles to control her breathing with the sudden pain in her heart. She frowns bitterly, as she can almost taste the happiness between the two of them, and –

 

A hand rests lightly on her shoulder. “Will you be alright?” Iroh gently asks. Toph almost moves to shift away from him, but instead she sets her shoulders.

 

“Why wouldn’t I be?”


End file.
